We were all excited when we got our habitat signs. We decided to add a couple of small ponds to the picture. We added a 350 gallon pond near the back of the habitat and a 150 gallon pond by the deck. A little waterfall made a wonderfully calming sound as it bubbled and splashed away. It is so soothing!

The big pond. This isn’t the best picture, but I will have more down the road for you to see.

Bull Frog…Can You Find Him?

What is a pond without some bull frogs? We got some tadpoles to make the ponds more interesting. I even found some “frog crossing” signs online. It took a while before we started spotting the little guys. They were so cute! Every day I looked forward to going out to the habitat and finding the frogs. They’d just sit there and blink at you in the sun. They were so cute!

So Pretty!

Watch Your Step!

A Baby Bullfrog!

A Baby Bullfrog!!!

A Heron Statue…Looks Real From a Distance

Actually this is a heron statue. There is a story behind it being by the big pond.

One night we had someone knocking anxiously on the front door. Our next door neighbor was at the door all excited. She told us that there is a heron on our roof. Well that’s something you don’t see or hear about. My husband went outside to see if he could see him. In the meantime I heard a thud out on the deck. I peeked out my bedroom window and there was a heron standing on the wicker rocking chair on the deck. Glenn, my husband, made his way to the back door and opened it slowly. He found himself nose-to-nose with the blue heron. The heron was very tall. They just stood there looking at each other. Then the heron took off back to our roof top. I have a photo of the rooftop, but you really can’t see the heron…he was in a shadow.

Wicker Rocker on Deck…great way to relax!

We giggled and went back to bed. It turned out that there was a reason the heron was in our back yard. He was looking for a night-time snack. That horrible bird ate our baby bull frogs! I was so sad….! We did some research and were told that if we put a statue of a heron out there, that no other heron would invade that territory. It worked…we haven’t seen a heron in the back yard since. We never restocked the pond with frogs either. We are hoping to some day soon.

Having a wildlife habitat can be a lot of fun and very enjoyable…but these kinds of things happen. I have more stories to share later on. It is sad, but you have to realize that it is nature. The herons have to eat too. They can just go dine somewhere else from now on!

The end of gardening season is rapidly approaching. I thought that I should tell you a little bit about our wildlife habitat before gardening season is over.

This all started when I read about the National Wildlife Federation sponsoring backyard wildlife habitats. I sent away for the kit, since I love wildlife. For about 20 years I had been planting things, moving things, learning from mistakes, etc. I kept finding plants, flowers, and trees that I really liked, so I made a place for them. There was no real rhyme or reason to my methods. I’d put stuff wherever it fit. Sometimes it took off growing and sometimes it was an utter failure. I never gave up. As a result of all of my attempts, I wound up with a fairly natural looking, woodsy, mountain like effect.

I got the kit and it said that I needed to show that I had provided water, shelter, food, and housing for the birds. That was easy. I already had all of that. Then it explained what trees, bushes, and flowers the birds liked and would be attracted to. I went down the list and found that I had a lot of that too. The last task was to draw a picture of the back yard showing what was there and where it was. I mailed it in and was excited to hear from the National Wildlife Federation shortly after that. They sent a metal sign saying that our backyard was a certified backyard habitat. They also sent a very nice certificate. We were sure excited.

Now you don’t need to have a big back yard and you don’t have to have tons of plants and flowers, etc. to get certified. You could have a little balcony or patio with some pots of flowers or a potted bush, a bird feeder and a dish with water for a bird bath. It doesn’t have to be an enormous operation. I already had it all done. The birds don’t care how big or fancy it is. They will come. If you want a big back yard habitat, you can do it a little at a time and quite inexpensively if you watch for bargains. A lot of our stuff was given to us. Other stuff was in horrible shape, but we fixed it up. In future posts I will show you some of the stuff. It is fun.

The most basic is a bird feeder, a bird house, and a bird bath.

A simple, but adequate bird feeder…the birds don’t care how fancy it is.

A simple, but adequate bird feeder…the birds don’t care how fancy it is.

A simple, but adequate bird feeder…the birds don’t care how fancy it is.

A simple, but adequate bird feeder…the birds don’t care how fancy it is.

Our habitat has expanded to include other fascinating wild life. We have had eagles, hawks, pheasants, wild turkeys, a great blue heron, bunnies, raccoons, skunks, and squirrels. A mother duck and her babies were photographed heading for our back yard. We have also had birds stop by to get something to eat and drink that don’t even belong here. They must have been passing through on their way to other states. Yes, we have some snakes and mice, but the snakes take care of the mice and stay hidden. They are not poisonous and do a lot of good with eating bugs too. I don’t mind them so much if they stay hidden.

Our back yard isn’t much bigger than most yards in housing developments. It is about 140 feet wide and about 35 feet to the house. I moved here in 1979. It was just dirt when we moved in. As I said before, I just started putting things I liked in where I liked them. It is now gorgeous. People come over and when they go to the backyard they gasp with amazement. They always say that they weren’t expecting it. They love it and want to come back. Many people have offered to help out with maintenance because they like it so much.

I have a lot of photos to show you and a lot of stories to share about our habitat. Be sure to stop by to see them. And be sure to like them, pin them, share them, or comment…I would love to see what you are doing for wildlife in your back yard. Our habitat didn’t stop with birds, we have expanded to butterflies and bees too. We love wildlife!

Right now I am working on Miniature Fairy Gardening. Miniature Fairy Gardening is merely taking a container, adding miniature houses, accessories, plants and fairies, and letting your imagination run wild. I tried to resist the temptation for a long time. As long as I can remember, I wanted a big, fancy doll house. My mother always said that those were for big girls and were very expensive. She was right on both counts, but now I am a big girl and I need to satisfy the desire.

I started doing two tiny gardens, one in a basket and one in a dish. I was hooked immediately. I had to do more! It needed to be bigger and more grand!

I have a big back yard that is a wildlife habitat, certified with the National Wildlife Federation. I’ll explain that whim later. I love gardening and wildlife. I thought a half barrel on my deck would be a great fairy garden. My husband got the barrel and I began to fill it. The more I did the more I wanted to do. I bought a fairy house online and a fairy and got some plants at the local nursery. I wanted accessories, but those can get quite expensive. I decided to make some accessories using my polymer clay stash in my craft supplies. Some of them are crude, but still get the idea across. I also found some small, round cuts of wood, some moss, and some small bark. It is amazing what you can find in the house and garage. I made a stick fence for around the flower garden in the back and some mini garden lights out of Sculpey glow-in-the-dark polymer clay (so far they aren’t glowing!). I did order a mini garden shed. I would be happy to post the names of the plants that I bought…just ask. Last, but not least, at my husband’s suggestion, I made a stick ladder that gives the fairies a way to escape. It was a cute idea!

I was, and still am, concerned about the wildlife antics at night. We have had a family of raccoons visiting our back yard every night for over 35 years. Normally they behave themselves. They like to turn over my husband’s gnome statues in the garden. They also like to play with our glass gazing ball. I have yet to figure out how they keep from breaking it! So far, so good. They have dipped their little fingers into the gardens already. Every morning I go out and check for damage. Nothing more than an accessory being moved from one side of the barrel to another. Most everything in the garden either has a pick anchoring it down or is taped using some special indoor/outdoor sticky stuff. I hope my luck continues.

Other wildlife have accepted my mini gardens too. I have had lady bugs, butterflies, small bees, and lace wings visiting the plants and flowers. It is so cute to watch!

I added a picture of the garden in two views. It changes from day-to-day if I add things or take things away, but it is so pretty and totally enchanting…I feel like I am living there. The garden’s backyard is full of flowering plants and of course, critters. I had to make another one! I will tell you about that in my next post.

What do you think? Have you tried fairy gardening? Would love to hear about your gardens,

The Naja Tool and Supply
This is a fabulous store. They carry almost anything you can think of needing for making jewelry. I have never met friendlier people. There is a jewelry making school next door that teaches everything you would ever want to learn about jewelry.